Of Princes and Frogs
by sei-hikaru
Summary: Accidents happen. When magic is involved, it could be a tricky thing to figure out.


**Of Princes and Frogs**

* * *

Once upon a time, in a land so far away that till now, no one knows of its name, something strange happened. Actually, it was quite a peculiar thing that happened that it must be told properly, right from the start. And the start happened before this strange thing occurred. So, we shall flip back a few years and find the moment where this story begins.

A prince was born into a magical royal family, born with all sorts of inherited witchcraft and wizardry, and he was expected to become a great king one day. He grew up awfully handsome, with a sly, knowing smile forever etched on his face because he knew this fact to be true. As years progressed and the old king became weary and ill, the kingdom became worried about having the handsome prince as their new ruler.

"Much too obsessed with his own looks to be bothered about the land." One whispered.

"Can he even manage a little piece of magic?" Another spoke up, voice lowered.

"No one has ever seen the young prince practice magic. Maybe he's incompetent!" Replied another.

It was a curious thing how gossips spread. Though these hushed words were spoken in private, far away from the ears of the prince, they traveled over the magical kingdom as quickly as the people's panic. And so, as fate would have it, our young prince was sneaking time away from his lessons to try and court a new pretty maid when he overheard his servants gossiping.

"Everyone's getting worried for the king." An old, haggard looking woman whispered, eyes shifting to make sure they were alone. "Talk of the prince is growing more and more."

Anyone who was anyone would be intrigued by any piece of talk regarding themselves. Naturally inquisitive, the prince hid himself in a corner and strained his ear to listen in on his servants' conversation.

"Yes, yes," another chimed in, sounding quite enthusiastic. "I spied on the prince myself the other day and it's true, he is neglecting his duties as the heir to the throne- always flirting with some young missus instead of managing the kingdom."

The prince looked rather disgruntled. What kind of talk was this? He was only 16 – he had plenty of time to play around before settling down to his duties. It wasn't as if they were all that difficult – really, these common-folk did not know what they were talking about! They should be worried if he wasn't interested in any of the ladies about.

The next piece of the conversation came as a surprise to him:

"It's really troubling. I've been with the prince since he was a little boy and it's true, I've never once seen him practice any sort of magic." The woman looked worried, "Could it be that our next ruler will be without magic?"

"He wouldn't last long if he was without magic." An old gardener shuffled his feet, looking about wearily. "Non-magical rulers have always caused riots in the kingdom and overthrown. One of his sisters would probably be queen as soon as they get their hands around his neck."

Disturbed by the turn of this conversation, the prince left his hiding place in search of an empty room.

Mixed feelings tortured his very being. Overthrown? Would he be murdered? Non-magical? Utter nonsense! He was every bit as magical as his father and he would be laughing at their stupidity when he took the throne.

The prince felt a deep surge of savage satisfaction at this thought. He was laughing heartily to himself when he was struck by a sudden realization.

The reason why his servants had never seen him practice magic was because he had never performed it in his life. The prince thought about this revelation for a moment. He knew he had magic in him – he was sure of it as he was sure he was alive. However, he was _not_ sure on how to convince his stupid common servants of this fact.

The prince continued to ponder on this for awhile before he came up with a simple solution. Why, he would just 'accidentally' perform a grand piece of magic in front of them and that would clear the rumors straightaway! The prince fingered his neck, thoughts of being strangled lingering in the corner of his mind.

The prince decided he would practice his magic first – in case he needed to clean up his act a little bit. He did not want his first piece of magic to look messy in front of his lowly servants. The prince decided he would transform himself – transformation had always been something of an awe for his people. He chuckled at their simple-mindedness.

So, it is here, dear readers, that the prince made his first mistake. One must understand however, that he was a brash young man and his ego had been greatly wounded by the words of his inferiors. Bruised ego can lead many people to resort to drastic measures without giving their actions great thought. And this was exactly what happened to our prince.

He closed his eyes and when he opened them, he found that to his joy, he had transformed himself into a frog. He hopped along to the nearest mirror and found that he did not like his new appearance very much. He thought himself looking rather ugly. Thus, he closed his eyes and when he opened them, he saw that he was still a frog.

Only this time, he was a frog, looking into his reflection in a pond. Which pond it was, he did not know, for the surroundings looked rather odd. So, dear readers, the prince had accidentally transformed himself into a frog and out of his kingdom – further away than his imaginations could have ever let him travel.

The prince began to panic. Who wouldn't panic, turned into a frog and away from one's home? He fidgeted around, hopping this way and that until he slipped (frog's have slippery feet- which he had forgotten) into the pond.

Ah, the wonders of fate. It was at that exact moment (as he was sinking further into the pond) that a golden spherical thing headed towards him and he barely dodged for his life. Angered that someone or something had tried to murder him, he swam back up out of the water to confront whoever had sent that _thing_ at him.

He wasn't sure what got to him first. Maybe it was her golden curls. Or maybe it was the fresh pink of her cheeks. But it was most definitely the pretty way she cried into her handkerchief, so daintily and quietly that he thought she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life.

Charisma kicking in (and quite forgetting that he was a frog), the prince approached the young girl.

"Excuse me, fair maiden, but why are you crying?"

Now, this girl was actually a princess and she was not used to having frogs talking to her. But the frog seemed kind and earnest (for that was how the prince was when he wooed a lady) and she turned to him and replied.

"I was playing with my most treasured possession, my golden ball, when it slipped from my fingers and fell into the pond." Her eyes glistened with more tears as she sobbed, "Now I shall never get it back!"

The prince thought quickly on how to turn this situation to his advantage. Maybe this girl would be able to help him get back to his kingdom and once things were straightened out, he would take her as his wife!

"I shall help you, fair lady," the prince gallantly spoke, "But first, you must promise me that you will allow me to dine with you tonight and sleep in your bed and then I shall retrieve your ball."

He thought that the last request was pushing his luck but he had nothing to lose in the first place. He was a frog, if you remembered.

The princess was also as foolish as the prince. And she was too excited at the prospect of getting her ball back that she didn't take the frog's words seriously (for he was a frog, and how could one take a frog's words seriously?).

"Yes, yes, please help me!"

We shall skip over the unnecessary details here and rush forward – the prince, now a frog, retrieved the ball. But as soon as the princess laid hands on it, she ran away happily, completely forgetting her promise. The prince, having had a rough day already, felt cheated and he did not like the feeling very much. Determined to have _something _go according to his plan, he hopped to the direction in which she had come from.

Now, the land was huge and the prince had become an immensely small frog that by the time he reached the front door, night had fallen and the princess was having a meal with the king. He demanded with her servants that he be brought to her side at once, for she had promised him entrance earlier in the day.

Quite some time passed before surprisingly, he was allowed entry to the dining chamber. Apparently, the princess had some good quality in her (asides from her beauty) and the prince felt better about having her as his wife. He saw that the king was dining with the princess and was glad that he would be able to deal with her father earlier on – he could make his intentions known and be a man about it (as man as he could, for, dear readers, don't forget, he is a frog at the moment).

He found out that the king had insisted his daughter keep her promise for promises were not to be taken lightly. The prince was gleeful though he noticed that the princess was not as happy as he was. He made small talk during dinner with the king and felt quite confident that the king would accept him as a son-in-law once he returned to his normal state.

When preparing for bed, he noticed that the princess looked quite glum. In fact, she was actually torn between guilt and repulsion for she did not really like amphibious creatures.

"Fair lady, do not be sad. You have been a great help and as soon as I am returned to my original state, I will reward you beyond your wildest dreams." The prince radiated an aura of confidence.

"Original state?" The princess looked puzzled but slightly less glum.

"Yes, you see, I am a prince – a human prince, to be exact, and I had accidentally – uh," the prince did not feel like disclosing his embarrassing chapter to the princess and quickly concocted a new story, "...run into a ...witch and she... uh... turned me into a frog... out of jealousy and spite!"

He was quite happy with his story for there were indeed many ill-intentioned witches in his kingdoms and no one would be the wiser.

The princess giggled at the story and looked more cheerful.

"That is an adorable story. Almost like a fairy tale."

"You might not believe me now but if you help me find my kingdom, you'll see my words are true." The prince looked hopefully at her. "Would you help me?"

"I will help you find your kingdom, I promise." The princess bit her lips then smiled reassuringly, "I will be good to my promise this time. For now, good-night, sweet prince."

The princess felt that she had stumbled upon a very charming frog and she leaned in to kiss his head. The prince closed his eyes happily. Her piercing scream got him to reopen his eyes.

Apparently, he had re-transformed into his old self again.

And so, the story travelled far and wide, the story of the frog prince – bewitched by jealous witches, the curse broken by a true love's kiss. The prince never spoke a word of the truth to anyone. In most versions of this story, the tale ends here, but actually, it goes on for a little bit more.

The prince never married the princess – they were enamoured for a little while but went their separate ways very quickly. She was captivated by his handsomeness and he was attracted to her beauty, so they had their fun for a little while starting from that fateful night – but they were young and she met a less self-absorbed prince whom she married later. The prince fell in and out of love with many a young maiden until he married a little sorceress who was crafty with her love potions. He had the occasional accident once in awhile, turning himself into a frog unknowingly from time to time, but he became better at turning himself back into a human.

For him, kisses were not too hard to find.

the end


End file.
